Peter Silas Pasqua: From the nosebleeds to the press box

Tuesday

Sep 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2009 at 4:15 PM

Last Saturday, for the first time in my life, I watched an LSU football game from the press box. With my birthday being Monday and this being such a big deal for me, I even got a haircut a couple of hours before.

Peter Silas Pasqua

Last Saturday, for the first time in my life, I watched an LSU football game from the press box. With my birthday being Monday and this being such a big deal for me, I even got a haircut a couple of hours before.

I started going to LSU football games -- in the nosebleed section -- with my dad when I was 6 years old. I still have the programs from those games against Rice and Kentucky.

As I got older, I went to a lot of games with just about my entire family when my cousin was a Golden Girl. When LSU wasn’t so good, I went to games with just my nanny. I think I went to nearly every game when I was a student at LSU, including the Sugar Bowl against Illinois and Cotton Bowl against Texas, both with my little brother.

A couple of years ago, I received a photo pass for a couple of games, but I had never been to the Paul Manasseh Press Box until Saturday night.

It was a totally unique experience that I wish I could have shared with everyone I know. From my seat I could see the Mississippi River Bridge, State Capitol, Pete Maravich Assembly Center and even the dormitory room I lived in during my freshman year.

As Louisiana-Lafayette made their way out to the field for warmups, the public address announcer stated, “This is LSU.” I couldn’t have phrased it any better myself. Soon after, I heard the loudest Tiger Stadium would get that night when the score from the Washington-USC game was announced.

Then the band took the field and the Golden Girls looked more golden then I had ever seen them before, wearing uniforms that looked more like dresses. The cymbals crashed, LSU was spelled out on the field, and I got chills as they played the alma mater and I gazed over the campus’ stately oaks.

LSU entered the coliseum wearing purple uniforms to the age old announcement, “It is Saturday night in Death Valley and here come your Fighting Tigers of LSU.”

I continued to take notes for a while, but it wasn’t the most entertaining game I have been to at Tiger Stadium.

No one will really know how good or bad LSU is until they play some stiff SEC competition. Of course, Washington’s victory over USC justified the Huskies, but there is still Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Ole Miss on the schedule. However, the Tigers are still undefeated as of now, and you can’t take that away from them.